


In Which Seijou Finds Out That Even Aggressive Puppies Like To Be Petted

by herekittie



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Awkwardness, Background Hanamatsu, M/M, Post-Canon, Romance, Third years in college
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-26
Updated: 2016-03-26
Packaged: 2018-05-29 04:23:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6359155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/herekittie/pseuds/herekittie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The third-years moved into a new apartment and invited the rest of the old Seijoh team for a housewarming party. There, the entire Seijoh team learns something new about their current captain, one Yahaba Shigeru, and their current ace, one Kyoutani Kentarou.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Which Seijou Finds Out That Even Aggressive Puppies Like To Be Petted

**Author's Note:**

> Alternate title: Kyoutani wants pets and Yahaba pets him and everyone else is suffering (except Oikawa, who is enjoying this way more than he should).
> 
> I forgot how this came to be but I'm sure it's [fontsizesmol's](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fontsizesmol) fault.
> 
> EDIT: hmu at [tumblr](http://herekittie-writes.tumblr.com/) and [twitter](https://twitter.com/herekittiew)

When the third years graduated, they kept in touch.  Everyone had Oikawa’s number saved since the first day of club activities, and eventually gained the numbers of the other third years over the year. It made communication easy, be it to announce cancellation of practice, or for collaborating for a prank, or when the third years all finally found an apartment after moving to Tokyo for college.

Naturally, they invited the team to their housewarming party, and no one could refuse, even, surprisingly, Kyoutani.

Except, one hour after the agreed meeting time, Kyoutani was nowhere to be seen. Watari, who had homework to catch up on, had already left.

“Did someone try his phone?” Kunimi asked. They were sitting in a loose circle in Oikawa and Iwaizumi’s shared bedroom, some on the beds and some on the floor. Immediately, everyone present looked to Yahaba, perched on the end of Iwaizumi’s bed.

“What?” Yahaba asked grumpily when he noticed.

“Did you try calling Kyoutani?” Hanamaki helpfully repeated. “Do you know where he is?”

Yahaba scoffed. “Why would I know that?  I’m not his handler.”

Oikawa shook his head. “You are, now that Iwa-chan is no longer on the team. I’m sure Mad Dog-chan listens to you, right? Communication between the captain and their ace is very important, you know?”

“I know, Oikawa-san,” Yahaba said, and looked like he was about to continue when the doorbell rang.

Iwaizumi stood up. “I’ll get it.”

“Do you think it’s Kyoutani?” Kindaichi asked Kunimi, who simply shrugged. There was little reason for it to be anybody else.

“Unless one of Oikawa’s new fangirls managed to track us here, it’s probably him,” Matsukawa said, slinging an arm around Hanamaki, who leaned back against it with a small smile.

Kunimi watched them from the corner of his eye, taking in the subtle display of affection, and noticed Yahaba also watching them. Yahaba’s body language, at first glance, was relaxed, but his hand was constantly in motion, fidgeting with his shirt hem or closing into a fist, seemingly agitated. Interesting.

The door opened, and Iwaizumi walked in, a sullen-looking Kyoutani following behind him. “You can sit wherever,” Iwaizumi said, waving a hand around the room and returning to his seat by Oikawa.

Kyoutani surveyed the room, marched over to Iwaizumi’s bed, and plopped down next to Yahaba. He draped himself over the bed, head hanging over the edge. Yahaba glared down at him and moved aside, pulling his legs up when he bumped into Oikawa sitting on the floor with a mumbled ‘sorry’.

From his position on Oikawa’s bed, directly opposite them, Kunimi saw Yahaba jab an elbow into Kyoutani’s side. Kyoutani flinched and shot a glare at Yahaba. “Sorry I was late,” he said, “my phone died.” He held up his phone’s darkened screen as proof, then, to Iwaizumi, “Could I borrow your charger?”

“Sure.” Iwaizumi took Kyoutani’s phone and plugged the charger in, leaving it on his bedside table.

“Thank you.”

“We’re just glad you made it,” Hanamaki said. “Anyway, where were we?”

“The girl who sits in front of you in Physiology,” Matsukawa prompted. “The one who watches anime in lectures.” And the conversation returned to before Kunimi had brought up Kyoutani.

"Ah, right." Hanamaki returned to telling his story of how the girl nearly got caught laughing by the professor when a funny scene came on and the desperate coughing she tried to cover it with when Kunimi noticed something strange.

Yahaba was looking at Hanamaki telling his story, seemingly interested, but his hand was on Kyoutani’s stomach and it was moving in small, tight circles. Kyoutani did not seem to mind. In fact, his eyes were half-lidded and unfocused, as if in a daze.

Kunimi turned to Kindaichi on his left, who was pointedly not looking in Yahaba’s and Kyoutani’s direction, his lips tight with determination. He turned to Matsukawa to his right, and met his eyes. Kunimi glanced at Kyoutani, and Matsukawa nodded back, then shook his head slightly.

_Don’t bring it up_ , it said. Kunimi looked to Iwaizumi, who also quickly shook his head. Next to him, Oikawa pointed at the odd spectacle, taking care to keep his finger out of Yahaba’s field of vision, and grinned. Kunimi had no idea what to make of that. Instead, he risked another look.

Kyoutani’s eyes were fully closed now, his entire face and body lax and soft. Yahaba had switched from circles to a side-to-side motion, and Kunimi could not help but think that it looked a lot like giving a dog a belly-rub.

“So, yeah, that’s how she got caught with Sonic’s groin on her screen, lovingly drawn and coloured, while it got crushed by Saitama’s fist.” Hanamaki’s story ended, and he looked around the circle for responses. Oikawa and Iwaizumi applauded. Kunimi could tell the exact moment Hanamaki, previously engrossed in his retelling, noticed the belly-rubbing, because he froze for a moment, then abruptly buried his face in Matsukawa’s neck, his shoulders starting to shake.

“Hanamaki-senpai, are you alright?” Kindaichi, ever the diligent underclassman, asked worriedly.

“He’ll be fine. He just cracked up remembering the story again, right?” Matsukawa jostled his shoulder and Hanamaki tried his best to nod. Matsukawa laughed. “Stop that, it tickles.”

“College sounds fun,” Yahaba said. He withdrew his hand, and Kunimi thought he could hear a quiet, collective sigh. Oikawa looked slightly disappointed, but his expression brightened as Kyoutani, apparently unhappy about the change, grunted and curled up against Yahaba, not once opening his eyes. As if he had planned it from the start, Yahaba set his hand on Kyoutani’s head and _started petting him._

From the corner of his eyes (Kunimi could not bring himself to look away), he saw Hanamaki, having calmed down, looked up, looked at Yahaba and his hand carding through short blonde hair, and dropped his head back down, biting on a fist to keep his noise level down. Matsukawa’s eyes were wider than Kunimi had ever seen them before and he seemed unable to avert his eyes. Kunimi could relate. Kindaichi was a stronger man, his gaze fixated on a spot between Hanamaki and Iwaizumi, though a hint of red was starting to colour his cheeks.

In contrast to the restrained reactions of those next to him, Oikawa was positively beaming and his knee bounced up and down, as though trying to release energy. Iwaizumi had one hand on Oikawa’s arm and a warning in his eyes, simultaneously daring Oikawa to act up and commanding him to behave.

Yahaba, Kunimi concluded, had either the best pokerface of them all or was one of the most oblivious person Kunimi had ever met. Nothing about him spoke of embarrassment or alarm, and he calmly continued petting Kyoutani’s head as he said, “Is something wrong?”

“Nope! Nope, absolutely nothing at all!” Oikawa chirped, sending a blinding grin their way. Iwaizumi tightened his grip. Oikawa yelped. “Iwa-chan, it hurts!”

Kyoutani huffed, and snuggled even closer to Yahaba, lifting his head and setting it in his lap as though he did it all the time and was not at all ashamed of being judged. Yahaba responded by adjusting his arm to get a better angle.

Kunimi was at a loss. What was the protocol for this sort of situation? Even Hanamaki and Matsukawa, as touchy as they were, were never this unabashedly affectionate with each other when others were around.

No one seemed to know quite what to do, and the silence was getting too long, edging into awkward territory, and Kunimi silently begged for someone to do _something_ , _anything,_ to clear the air.

Of all people, Kyoutani answered his prayers. More accurately, his phone did. It rang, loud in the quiet, and he finally sat up, reaching over Yahaba to get it. Nobody moved as he read the text, and Kunimi almost startled when Kyoutani shot up straight, nearly knocking his head into Yahaba’s chin. Yahaba was clearly not happy, and gave Kyoutani a pinch at the hips that Kyoutani ignored.

“Sorry, I have to leave now,” he announced, removing the charger. Kunimi inwardly cheered, then felt a little bad for cheering, then decided that he could feel however he wanted after being witness to that. “My dog’s throwing up so my parents are taking him to the vet.” Kyoutani rolled off the bed onto his feet, turning to face them. They must be showing some odd facial expressions, if the raised eyebrows and head tilt were anything to go by.

“I’ll go with you.” Yahaba stood up after Kyoutani, resting a hand on his back. To no one’s surprise, Kyoutani accepted the touch and allowed himself to be steered out of the room. “This was nice, we should meet up again soon.”

“Yes!” Oikawa shouted. “It’s a promise!”

“I’ll show you out.” Matsukawa extracted himself from Hanamaki and followed them out. Kunimi heard the door unlock, open, some faint goodbyes, the door close, and the lock clicking into place.

Matsukawa came back, face unreadable. For a moment, no one said anything.

“So,” Oikawa said, “are we going to talk about that?”

“No,” came the reply, from Iwaizumi, Hanamaki and Matsukawa, and Kunimi was glad. This was going to take time to process.

\---

Yahaba could not contain his grin as he piled into the taxi Kyoutani flagged down, opting to sit in the middle instead of at the window opposite from Kyoutani. While Kyoutani gave instructions to the driver, Yahaba curled his fingers around Kyoutani’s, and his grin grew when Kyoutani’s fingers closed around his immediately. Still, there was a line of tension between Kyoutani’s eyebrows and in the press of his lips that Yahaba disliked.

“Kurogane probably just ate something weird again,” Yahaba said. “Some charcoal tablets will fix him right up.”

Kyoutani sat back and the taxi started moving. “Yeah,” he sighed. He loosened his grip on Yahaba’s hand and slotted their fingers together. Yahaba took the opportunity to rub the base of Kyoutani’s thumb reassuringly.

“That was fun.”

“The meetup? It was okay, I guess.” Kyoutani rested his head on Yahaba’s shoulder, nuzzling the base of his neck.

“Did you enjoy anything else?” Yahaba asked, resting his head against the top of Kyoutani’s.

“You,” he answered simply, and there was a finality to it that kept Yahaba from pushing further.

Yahaba’s chest felt fuzzy and warm and light, and he could not school his face into anything less than a smile. That was one way to come out, he supposed. It was both subtle and overwhelmingly blatant, just like them.


End file.
